Derailment: CPI(M) Slams Mamata's Finger-Pointing

CPI(M) on Saturday rubbished apparent suggestions by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee that the Left party could be behind the Jnaneswari Express disaster in West Midnapore, alleging that she was trying to cover up "serious" lapses

CPI(M) on Saturday rubbished apparent suggestions by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee that the Left party could be behind the Jnaneswari Express disaster in West Midnapore, alleging that she was trying to cover up "serious" lapses and failures of her ministry in the incident.

Senior CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury also said some elements were "cynically" using the situation to further their petty partisan interests and claimed that it was done to influence public opinion before Bengal civic polls.Yechury said it was Banerjee's duty to inform the country about her ministry's preliminary observations on the cause of the derailment that claimed at least 114 lives.

"She has rather chosen to shield the actual culprits by suggesting that Maoists may not be behind the sabotage...The minister continues to maintain that there was a blast that led to the accident while the Home Minister (P Chidambaram) has denied that possibility.

"It is clear that the Railway Minister is seeking to cover up the serious lapses of her leadership in the ministry and its failings in this tragic episode," Yechury said in New Delhi. During the first five months of this year, he said, the number of major railway accidents has been more than in any calender year since 1980.

Without naming any party, Banerjee said in Kolkata that "whoever did it, it was a political conspiracy. The accident has happened two days before the (civic) election. One may be politically against us, but I feel bad that the way the incident was engineered to fulfil one's political interest."

Yechury said it was indeed sad that instead of joining the country in the wake of a national tragedy, some elements were "cynically" using the situation to further their petty partisan interests. He alleged that it was done in order to influence public opinion on the eve of the civic elections in Bengal. PTI